1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to a table leveling wedge and more particularly to a wedge having forwardly protruding spaced apart feet for guiding it below a table glide and a longitudinally extended top cavity for receiving the table glide and laterally confining it on the wedge.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In restaurants, in particular, wobbly tables are a problem both as an annoyance for customers and as a detraction from the table's function of supporting dinnerware and other articles on it. Whether floors are made of wood, tile, concrete, terrazzo, or any other material, the floor surface is seldom perfectly flat. For this purpose, the legs or pedestals of many tables are provided with glides which are typically mounted by screw threads to enable the glides to be vertically adjusted for stable support of the table on floor surfaces which are not perfectly level. The difficulty with conventional table glides is that it is a time consuming process to properly adjust them. In a busy restaurant setting, time is simply not available to make such adjustments each time a table is moved. Such adjustments would likely require that the table be tipped up or turned down on its side for access to the glide with a tool if necessary. Accordingly, such adjustments may be an unacceptable disruption in any event. Finally, even if the table glides are properly adjusted once, readjustment would be necessary each time the table is moved to accommodate combining tables or different table arrangements.
Even on level surfaces, adjustment may be necessary when combining tables to level them relative to one another. When two tables are moved together, they not only need to be stabilized at that new position, but also leveled with one another to eliminate a ledge at the joint since it may be necessary for a patron to be seated at the junction where two tables meet.
A primary object of the invention, therefore, is to provide an improved table leveling wedge.
Another object is to provide a simple yet effective table leveling wedge which may be quickly and conveniently installed below a wobbly table to stabilize it.
Another object is to provide a table leveling wedge which affords lateral securement as well as vertical support so that a table glide will not be bumped off of the wedge.
Another object is to provide a table leveling wedge with a longitudinally extended cavity effective for supporting a table glide substantially throughout the length of the wedge.
Another object is to provide a table leveling wedge of a size and shape to accommodate most minor adjustments with a single wedge.
Another object is to provide a table leveling wedge which is simple and rugged in construction, economical to manufacture and efficient in operation.
In an effort to avoid wobbly tables, restaurants have been known to use cardboard matches or plain wood wedges below selected table glides for leveling and stabilizing wobbly tables. The matchbooks are somewhat compressible and aesthetically detract from what otherwise may be a very elegant restaurant atmosphere. The common wood wedge provides vertical support, but no lateral support. Accordingly, if the table is bumped or moved slightly, it can be moved off of either of these supports. Furthermore, it is difficult to insert a common wedge under the glides of a table pedestal because the precise position of the table glide cannot be seen unless the waiter gets down on hands and knees with his eyes near the floor.
Manufactured wedges such as that shown in Bellows, U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,320, suffer from the same lack of lateral support and the small cavity of that device is effective only if the needed vertical adjustment corresponds with the position of the cavity on that device.